Guillem raised his hands. The fingers were inordinately long and thin. He made a sign to the jailers, one of whom stood back, on each side of Ogier, by the well-mouth, with his hand on the shoulder of the prisoner. Each man, as was customary, had his face covered--that is to say, a black sack was drawn over his head, in which were two holes cut, through which peered the eyes. "Throw him down!" At that moment, taking advantage of the avenue made for the admission of air, Noémi rushed in. A couple of men stepped forward to intercept her, but she was too nimble for them; she was within almost as soon as they thought of throwing themselves in her way, and had cast herself upon Ogier and clasped him with her arms. "Father! Father! It cannot, it shall not be!" The door was filled again; the men crowded in to see what new turn events would take, whether this intervention would avail. The jailers desisted as they were raising the old man; they felt that the sight of the execution of the sentence could not be permitted to a young girl. Moreover, she held Del' Peyra fast, and he could not be extricated from her arms without the exercise of force. "Noémi!" exclaimed Le Gros Guillem, throwing his feet off the pallet, "what is the meaning of this? Why are you here? At once away! Do you hear me?" "I will not let go! He shall not die! Father, it cannot--it shall not be!" "Unloose her arms," ordered Guillem, and signed to the men. Firmly they obeyed. It was in vain that the girl clung, writhed, endeavoured to disengage her arms from their grasp, and clung to the condemned man. They held her like a vice and drew her back from the pit-mouth and interposed their persons between her and the man she was endeavouring to save. Then, in a paroxysm of horror and pity, Noémi threw herself on her knees before her father and implored him to yield. "What is Del' Peyra to you?" he asked sternly. "Nothing--nothing," she gasped. "Oh, father, let him go! let him go!" "Twice have you interfered between me and him. Why is that?" She could not answer his question; she did not attempt to do so. She persisted in her entreaties. In her anguish she caught hold of one of his injured feet and made him cry out with pain. "Father! If I have ever done anything for you! If you have any love for me--any thought to do what I wish--grant me this. Spare him! Spare him!" "Never!" answered Le Gros Guillem. Then he waved his long hand and said, "Remove this silly girl." But when Noémi felt hands laid on her, she leaped to her feet, shook herself free, and said, panting-- "Let be! Do not touch me! I ask his life, no more." "You do well, child," sneered the Captain. "You then run no more risk of disappointment." "Yet--if that be denied me, there is one thing I do ask," gasped Noémi. Her breath came as though she had been running up hill. She put her hands to her head, and held it, till she had recovered sufficiently to proceed.